The first ever women’s cricket game in Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2022 turned out to be a roller coaster of a game. There were exceptional individual performances from both sides but T20 World Champions Australia held their nerves in the run chase despite losing half of their side for 49 while chasing 155.
Chasing a par total of 155, Australia got off to a horrible start as Renuka Singh displayed an exhibition of swing bowling. Renuka got her first wicket off the second delivery. Alyssa Healy got out for a two-ball duck. In her second over, she got the wicket of skipper Meg Lanning and opener Beth Mooney. She struck again in the fifth over and got the wicket of in-form Tahlia McGrath. She finished with four wickets for 18 runs in her four overs.
Deepti Sharma joined the party as well and got the wicket of Rachael Haynes in the eighth over. Australia not only needed to keep their wickets intact but score runs at a rapid rate. Grace Harris played the perfect knock while Ashleigh Gardner played herself in. Harris went haywire and got Australia back in the game with her 20-ball 37 which included five fours and two sixes.
Meghna got the breakthrough in the 13th over with the wicket of Harris. From the other end, Deepti got her second wicket to put Australia on the back foot. With seven wickets down in the 15th over, they needed 45 runs to win from 34 balls. Gardner stepped up and got to her half-century in the 19th over. She got support from Alana King as well with few boundaries.
Australia chased down the target of 155 with three wickets in hand and six balls to spare.
Earlier, India got off to a fiery start with Smriti Mandhana hitting boundaries. Mandhana scored 24 off 17 balls in the 25-run opening partnership with Shafali Verma. Wicketkeeper-batter Yastika Bhatia could not justify the promotion up the order and got run out for a single-digit score.
Shafali accelerated with a hat-trick of boundaries twice in the game. She missed his half-century after losing her wicket to Jess Jonassen in the 12th over.
Skipper Harmanpreet did not get much support from the other end as Jonassen ripped through India's middle order. Harmanpreet carried India's innings on her back and helped them post a total of 154/8 on the board.
She reached her half-century in the final over of the innings and became the first female batter to do so in CWG history. Harmanpreet got out on the penultimate delivery of the innings with 34-ball 52. Schutt finished with another wicket as Meghna Singh got out for a golden duck. For Australia, Jonassen took four wickets for 22 runs.
